Senior Iraqi Official: Bush Speech
'Full of Lies'

A senior Iraqi official reacts to the US president's latest warning against Iraq saying Mr Bush is "a beast which wants to eat small countries".

October 8, 2002

A senior Iraqi official says President George W Bush's ultimatum for Baghdad to disarm or be disarmed by force was "full of lies".

The head of the religious affairs committee in the Iraqi parliament, Abdul Aziz Kailani, said Mr Bush was intent on destroying small countries.

You [Bush] are just like a beast which wants to eat small countries - Abdul Aziz Kailani, Iraqi official

There has been no formal reaction yet from the government of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

In his address to the American people on Monday, Mr Bush said that war was not imminent or unavoidable, but the Iraqi leader must either abandon weapons of mass destruction or face an American-led coalition that would disarm him.

"The time for denying, deceiving, and delaying has come to an end," Mr Bush said.

The speech was aimed more at the US Congress which is expected to vote on a resolution this week authorising Mr Bush to use force against Iraq.

Many Americans did not even watch it as major television networks did not carry the speech - they had not been asked by the White House to do so.


'Like a beast'

Abdul Aziz Kailani said Mr Bush's speech was "full of lies and full of unreasonable argument," Reuters news agency reported.

Iraq's weapons of mass destruction are controlled by a murderous tyrant, who has already used chemical weapons to kill thousands of people

President Bush

"You [Bush] are just like a beast which wants to eat small countries and while you should help them you want to destroy them," Mr Kailani said.

In his speech in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr Bush set out in stark terms the threat he believed Saddam Hussein - whom he described as a "homicidal dictator addicted to weapons of mass destruction" - posed to Americans.

"Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group or individual terrorists," he said. "Alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints."

The president said the United States did not know how close Iraq was to building a nuclear weapon, but could not afford to wait.

He also made it plain that any of Saddam Hussein's generals who followed orders to launch a chemical or biological weapons attack would face war crimes charges.

Public support

A recent public opinion poll suggests that Americans are behind Mr Bush's tough stand on Iraq.

We cannot assume that other countries pose imminent threats - Roseanne Singer, USA

The survey, conducted for TV network CBS and the New York Times, showed two-thirds of respondents supporting military action to topple Saddam Hussein.

However, that support sinks when the issues of major US casualties, Iraqi civilian deaths or a lengthy war are raised.

Tens of thousands of people attended anti-war rallies across the US on the eve of Mr Bush's speech.

Egypt has responded by criticising Mr Bush's "rewriting the rules in the middle of the game", referring to US attempts to force a tough new United Nations Security Council resolution threatening military force if Baghdad backs out of its pledge to allow arms inspections.

"The important thing is to resume the work of the [UN weapons] inspectors as soon as possible," said Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2309937.stm